


The Fox Bride

by geri_chan



Category: Pet Shop of Horrors
Genre: M/M, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2013-12-13
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geri_chan/pseuds/geri_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Count D has been running from Leon for months, but when Leon goes missing, the Count finds himself playing detective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fox Bride

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ozsaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozsaur/gifts).



> Set post-canon after the end of the first series. The story takes place in Tokyo, but does not otherwise reference characters or events in the "Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo" series. 
> 
> Thank you very much to Yellowhorde, who betaed the story for me. Any mistakes remaining are all my own.

Leon walked the streets of Yokohama's Chinatown district, growing increasingly irritable and frustrated. He'd heard a rumor that Count D had gone to Japan, and had figured that D would set up shop in a Chinatown, following his usual modus operandi. Naturally, he'd want to be around his own kind.

Except...what "kind" was that? Once, Leon had thought of D as just another Chinaman, albeit a particularly murderous and annoying and altogether too pretty one. But he could not forget the story that D's grandfather had told of the family's origins, and he could not forget the sight of D's ship flying through the clouds. Neither could he forget seeing the pets in their human forms: Pon-chan as an adorable little girl with blond curls, and Tetsu as a sullen, red-haired young man with sheep's horns. And most of all, he could not forget D smiling at him sadly, a single tear running down his face as the son-of-a-bitch pushed Leon right off the frigging boat--to his death, Leon had thought at the time as he fell screaming through the sky.

Except that he'd woken up safely in a hospital bed, a little battered but (mostly) none the worse for wear. He had tried to tell himself that it was only a dream, but deep in his heart, he didn't really believe that...

Leon shook his head vigorously, as if he could physically shake those troubling memories out of his brain. First things first--he needed to find the Count and chew his ass out for skipping town without so much as a goodbye. _Then_ he'd worry about what was or wasn't real.

He had figured that the best place to start would be the biggest Chinatown in the country, which was here in Yokohama. Except that he'd been to shop after shop with no sign of D. And when he tried to ask the various shopkeepers if they'd seen or heard of him, he was met with polite denials, blank stares, or protests of "No English." Maybe they were covering for D, but his cop's instincts told him that they were telling the truth.

"Damn," Leon muttered to himself as he left a Chinese restaurant. Watching a rat scuttle under a dumpster in the alley behind it, he made a mental note not to come back here for lunch. "What am I going to do now?" he sighed.

"Excuse me," a female voice said in slightly accented English, and Leon turned to see a Japanese woman smiling at him shyly--or more of a girl, really. She appeared to be in her late teens, or early twenties at most. The girl was slight of build and pretty, with long hair that was an unusual shade of reddish-brown. Well, unusual for a Japanese, who mostly tended to have black hair, but a lot of kids seemed to dye theirs in various colors ranging from light brown to neon pink, so a redhead wasn't all that far out of line. Also slightly unusual, she was wearing a kimono when most of the other people he'd seen were wearing Western-style clothing. It was red with a pattern of gold and brown and orange autumn leaves, and Leon idly thought that D would have liked it. Then he got angry at himself for caring what D thought.

"Yes?" Leon said, a bit more gruffly than he'd intended, but the girl didn't seem to take any offense.

"Forgive my rudeness, but I couldn't help overhearing...you are looking for Count D?" she asked diffidently.

"Yes, I am!" Leon exclaimed, with much more enthusiasm this time. Had he finally caught a break? "I'm a--" He started to say, _I'm a police detective_ , but realized that if she was a friend of D's, she might not be so keen on helping the police find him, so he quickly changed it to, "I'm an old friend of his, from America. We lost touch after he moved, but I have something that belongs to him, and I'd like to return it." That part, at least, was true--he had the old drawing Chris had made, that D had left behind after that whole mess with his crazy father.

Fortunately, the girl didn't seem to find his story suspicious. Then again, people who were familiar with the Count were probably used to all kinds of weirdness. "I have heard that he is searching for a certain kitsune, a fox spirit, out in the countryside. My family runs a small shrine near there, and I would be happy to show you the way."

"I wouldn't want to put you through too much trouble," Leon said politely, although he knew that he'd probably get lost without a guide. He was a little concerned that she seemed willing to go on a trip with a complete stranger--more for her than himself. Physically, she was no threat to him, and besides, he didn't make an appealing target for a thief, dressed in his usually scruffy jeans and t-shirt and a faded and scuffed leather jacket. His duffle bag, battered and stained from trips all over the U.S. and Europe didn't exactly scream "rich tourist," either. He had heard that crime was much lower in Japan than back home, but he hoped she wasn't naive enough to wander off with strange men on a regular basis.

"It's no trouble at all," the girl assured him. "I just happen to be going to visit my family today--you caught me on my way to the train station."

"Then if it's okay, I'll take you up on your offer," Leon said. "I'm Leon Orcot," he added, holding out his hand, wondering if he ought to bow instead.

But the girl shook his hand without hesitation, saying, "It's nice to meet you, Orcot-san. My name is Yuki."

"I hope your family won't mind me tagging along," Leon said.

"Not at all," Yuki replied. "Count D is highly respected in the community. Any friend of his is a friend of ours."

Leon relaxed a bit then, since it seemed like Yuki's invitation had been extended on D's behalf and not because she was in the habit of picking up random men. Although he wasn't sure if "friendship" was an accurate description of the complex and conflicted relationship between himself and D, that had sent the latter running away, and him running after D, but all of that was too complicated and personal to explain to a stranger. So all he said was, "Thank you very much, Yuki."

***

Yuki ducked her head and cast her eyes down demurely to hide her smile of triumph. What luck, that Count D's pet human should stumble across her path, and that he should fall so easily for the story she had invented. A typical human man--automatically assuming that a young female was no threat to him.

She had heard rumors that Count D was in Japan, but she lacked the power to take revenge on him directly. Now, at least she could use this Leon to take a more indirect sort of retaliation: the Count had stolen someone she had loved, so she would take the mortal he was obsessed with.

Not that Count D had ever claimed to love Leon or any other human, but she had heard stories about his association with the American detective. And surely, if he did not care for Leon, he would not have spent so much time fleeing from the man across several countries when he could easily have had the human quietly disposed of if he really didn't want to be bothered by him.

Well, soon enough she would be able to find out directly from Leon just what his relationship with the Count was. For now, she said in a sweet voice, "You are very welcome, Orcot-san."

***

Pon-chan quietly slipped into the Count's office and turned on the computer while he was busy talking to a customer. It sounded like a complicated transaction, and hopefully would take a long time. Not that she was forbidden to use the computer; Pon-chan, along with some of the other pets, often played video games on it. The Count didn't mind, since he used it only occasionally for business, and that only because certain types of pet supplies and food had to be ordered online. He preferred to conduct most of his business transactions in person and with cash, if possible.

However, the Count probably would mind if he knew that Pon-chan wasn't just playing games, but was going online to search for news about the friends they'd left behind in Los Angeles. Chris didn't have a blog, but his older sister Josie did, and she sometimes posted news or photos of him, as she had today: _My little brother had a soccer match on Saturday, and we all cheered him on. Here's a pic of him scoring the winning goal!_

Pon-chan smiled wistfully, then moved on to check Miss Jill's blog. Using the pseudonym "Lady Cop J," Jill frequently posted entries about the travels of "my friend L," saying that he had an interest in rare animals and stories about magical or mythological creatures. Pon-chan knew that meant Leon was searching for Count D and the pet shop.

Today Jill had posted: _L is on vacation in Japan--I asked him to bring me back some Hello Kitty stuff, LOL! You guys know that he's interested in animals from folktales and legends, so if you know any stories about a particular location, let me know and I'll pass it on to him._

Pon-chan's heart beat faster with excitement--Leon was here in Japan right now! Maybe he would manage to find them this time? She wanted to go back home--which meant L.A.--because she missed Chris (and Leon, too), but also because she knew that the Count missed Leon, even though he wouldn't admit it.

But she also knew that the Count would flee Japan in an instant if he got wind that Leon was here, so when she heard the Count calling, "It's tea time, everyone," she hastily closed the browser and turned off the computer.

***

After a long train ride, including a few transfers, Leon wasn't sure exactly where in Japan he was. They had ended up in some little country village, and he was now following Yuki down a deserted path in the woods.

"It's not much further now," she reassured him. Curiously, she had no trouble negotiating the long walk from the village, moving with ease and grace in that confining kimono.

Leon was beginning to wonder if this was some sort of trap after all when he spotted a Japanese-style temple through the trees. The building seemed to be in a state of disrepair: the wood looked old and weathered, and several of the paper-screen panels of the front door were torn. There were bare patches among the shingles on the roof, and pieces of broken shingles strewn across the ground where they had fallen.

Two statues of foxes on pedestals flanked the path leading up to the temple, and looked similarly neglected, though in slightly better shape, being made of stone. But they looked dirty, as if they had not been cleaned in years, and dried leaves and dirt had accumulated at the foxes' feet.

Leon felt a little sad, for reasons he couldn't quite explain, and he brushed away some of the debris from the closest statue with his hand. "You kinda remind me of Ten-chan," he murmured nostalgically. "Though with less tails, of course."

"Excuse me?" Yuki said, giving him an odd look.

"Sorry, just talking to myself," Leon said sheepishly. "Is this your parents' temple?" he asked, gesturing towards the building. "I don't mean to be rude, but it doesn't look like anyone's lived there in years."

"This was once a shrine of Inari, the god of rice," Yuki replied with a touch of bitterness. "But people no longer follow the old ways, or worship the old gods and spirits, and now it has fallen into this sad state." Then she smiled and said with slightly forced cheer, "But the isolation suits Count D's needs in this case, since a magical beast like a kitsune is not likely to show itself when there are a lot of humans around."

The pets in D's shop had not seemed particularly shy or skittish to Leon, but maybe kitsune that lived out in the wild were different. Anyway, it didn't really matter whether the kitsune was here, as long as D was.

"Let me go in and see if the Count is here," Yuki said, and went on into the temple ahead of him. After waiting for a few minutes, Leon followed, calling out, "Yuki? Is the Count..."

His voice trailed off as he stepped into a dimly lit room that smelled of a very familiar incense. Instead of the bare wooden floor he had expected, he stepped onto a plush carpet, and there was a velvet-upholstered couch in the middle of the room--similar, though not quite the same as the one in L.A.

And then D stepped through a doorway leading to some inner room in the temple--or pet shop? He looked as beautiful and elegant as ever, clad in elaborately embroidered silks.

"D?" Leon whispered, hardly daring to believe his eyes.

"My dear detective," D purred. "You have finally found me."

He extended a hand out in welcome, while Leon just stared at him. He didn't understand why D seemed pleased to see him now, after running from him for so long. Neither did he understand why he wasn't more furious himself. He had told himself that he was going to chew D out for leaving without a goodbye, and maybe haul him back to America in handcuffs for good measure.

But he felt no anger, only a profound sense of relief as tears stung his eyes, and he found himself reaching out to take D's hand. "I...I don't understand," he stammered. "Why did you--?"

"Shh," D whispered, gently brushing a finger across Leon's lips, and for a moment, Leon forgot to breathe. He could still feel that feather-light touch tingling on his lips even after D's free hand dropped back to his side. "I promise, I will explain everything to you in time, but for now...let us sit and have some tea."

Leon nodded mutely, and found himself following D to the couch, feeling slightly dazed, as if this were a dream instead of reality. It was probably just the incense making him dizzy, he decided. And if it was a dream, there was a part of him that didn't want to wake up from it...

***

Two weeks later, Leon still had not shown up at the shop, although on the bright side, the Count didn't seem to suspect anything. Things had been busy at the shop, and Pon-chan had not been able find time enough alone to go on the computer.

But the Count had gone out to shop for sweets today, so Pon-chan hurried to the office to check Jill's blog. To her dismay, she found that Jill had posted several entries asking for "L" to get into touch with her, with an increasing degree of concern. On her most recent entry, she had posted a photo of Leon and asked anyone who had seen him to contact her, as Leon had disappeared and his family had not heard from him since he'd arrived in Japan.

Pon-chan ran out of the office, frantically shouting, "Ten-chan! Tetsu-chan!"

"Where's the fire, kid?" Tetsu asked with his usual gruff rudeness, not bothering to look up from the video game he was playing with Ten-chan out in the living room.

But the kitsune took a closer look at Pon-chan and immediately set aside his game controller. "What's wrong, Pon-chan?" he asked.

"Come see!" she said, grabbing his hand. "Leon's in Japan, and he might be in trouble!"

Ten-chan and Tetsu followed her to the office and looked over Jill's blog entries. "You've been keeping track of Leon all this time?" Ten-chan asked.

"I miss him and I miss Chris," Pon-chan replied, tears welling in her eyes. "I've been hoping that he'd find the shop and convince Count D to go home. But that's not important now--we have to find out what happened to Leon!"

"Eh, he's probably just busy looking in all the wrong places for the Count, or maybe drowning his sorrows in some hostess bar," Tetsu said scornfully, but there was a hint of concern beneath his outward indifference.

"Miss Jill is a sensible woman," Ten-chan said, frowning worriedly. "She would not have made these posts if she didn't believe that there was real cause for concern. Obviously, Leon has not found the shop, but he could have run afoul of some magical creature during his quest. Or maybe encountered some more mundane problem, like crossing paths with the yakuza."

"That dumb detective attracts trouble like a magnet," Tetsu agreed.

"What should we do?" Pon-chan asked anxiously.

Ten-chan and Tetsu exchanged a look, and then sighed in resignation. "We're gonna have to tell the Count," Tetsu growled. "And he isn't going to be happy about this."

"But he'll just run away again, and what will happen to Leon then?" Pon-chan protested.

"I don't think so," Ten-chan disagreed, smiling wryly. "He might very well run away _after_ Leon is safely found, but he will not leave while our dear detective is still in danger."

***

"That foolish human, running around in a country where he doesn't even speak the language, and meddling in matters that he does not understand!" Count D fumed, pacing back and forth on the living room carpet while the pets watched anxiously. "Is it any wonder that he has landed himself in trouble yet again? And you!" He paused in his pacing to glare at Pon-chan. "I expressly forbade any contact with the people that we knew in Los Angeles!"

Pon-chan quailed for a moment in the face of D's wrath, then lifted her chin defiantly, although her lower lip quivered slightly. "I was only watching Jill's blog," she defended herself. "I didn't contact her or Chris or anyone else back in L.A."

"Following the letter of your order, if not necessarily the spirit," Ten-said slyly, and D shifted his glare to the kitsune.

"We will discuss that particular matter later," D said sternly. "But for now, we must concentrate on finding that idiot detective." Pon-chan immediately cheered up, and D felt slightly guilty. In his haste to leave Los Angeles, and more specifically Leon, he hadn't stopped to consider that Pon-chan and the others might miss their former home. Although in Pon-chan's case, it was probably more Chris that she missed than the city itself, and there was no way to continue their friendship when Chris could no longer communicate with her or see her true form. It was sad, but she would have to learn to accept that loss.

 _As you have accepted yours?_ D's conscience nagged him. Had he really accepted that a human had no place in his life, or was he merely running from a truth he did not want to acknowledge?

D quickly brushed aside those disturbing thoughts, to be dealt with later. For now, as he had told the pets, he had to concentrate on the problem at hand. The first thing to be done, he decided, was to contact Jill in order to get more details about Leon's itinerary.

"We were so worried about you!" Jill exclaimed, sounding both relieved and accusing at the same time, which in turn caused D to feel both touched and a little guilty. "At first we thought you'd been killed in the explosion, but there was no trace of your body and Leon swore that you were alive--"

"I am sorry," D interrupted, a bit stiffly, because he was not in the habit of making apologies to humans. "But I knew that the police and the F.B.I. would be asking questions that I could not answer. Nor did I wish to be blamed for my father's crimes."

"Well, I understand that, but you could have at least said goodbye," Jill replied impatiently. "And if you didn't have time for that, you could have called or sent a letter afterwards, saying that you were safe."

"I have been terribly rude and inconsiderate," D conceded, mostly to stop Jill's litany of accusations. "You may scold me for it later, Miss Jill, but I called you today because I...I mean, some of my associates...saw your blog posts and are concerned about Detective Orcot."

Jill immediately assumed a more brisk and professional tone of voice, although she still sounded concerned. She recited the few definite facts that she knew, including the date and time of Leon's flight to Japan and the name of the hotel he had booked, and D dutifully wrote those down.

"He arrived in Narita Airport that morning, and he sent me a text message after he cleared customs, saying that he was planning to catch a train to Yokohama. He thought you might have set up shop in the Chinatown there, or if not, maybe he could at least find some clues to your whereabouts. That was the last I’ve heard from him. He booked a room in a hostel there, but when I called to check, they said that he never showed up."

"Have you contacted the police here in Japan?" D asked.

"I did," Jill replied, "and I don't think that they're completely convinced that he isn't just off carousing somewhere. However, since Leon's a police officer, they agreed to look into the case as a professional courtesy, but they haven't found out much more than I did. They were able to confirm that he was seen in Yokohama--some of the merchants remember him asking questions about you. But none of them know where he went after that, and no one recalls seeing him after that first day. 

“Count D, I'm really worried! He might not check in for a day or two if he was preoccupied with a good lead, but he wouldn't stay out of touch for two weeks. I've called him multiple times, but his phone keeps going to voicemail and he hasn't called me back--or Chris, either. Even if he'd ignore my messages for some reason, he wouldn't ignore Chris's, not when his little brother is so worried about him. He'd at least check in to say, 'I'm okay,' even if he doesn't want to talk about the case. I'm very, very afraid that something bad might have happened to him--I'm just about ready to catch a plane to Japan myself!"

"Don't do that, at least not yet," D told her. "Unless I'm mistaken, you don't speak Japanese any better than Leon does, and you have no jurisdiction here. More importantly, you aren't familiar with the people or the territory. I have some contacts within the Metropolitan Police Department and in the underworld as well, so please allow me to investigate first. I promise that I'll keep you informed of whatever I learn."

"Thank you, Count," Jill said with a sigh of relief. "If you can find Leon and bring him home safe and sound, I'll even forgo scolding you for running away without saying goodbye!"

She gave him her personal cell phone number and e-mail address, after extracting more promises to contact her, any time of day or night, as soon as he had any information about Leon. The Ds never broke their sworn word, and D had already given her his promise, but he reassured her without taking offense, because he knew that she was motivated by fear for Leon rather than mistrust of his word. Besides, she did not know his true nature as a D, although he suspected she knew that he was something more than human. 

D suddenly found himself missing those days in Los Angeles, with Leon stopping by for tea, occasionally with Jill, who would tease him and bicker with him in an affectionate manner. And although he had complained about Leon "volunteering" his services as a babysitter, he missed young Chris as well.

Which was why he had left Los Angeles in such haste--nothing good could possibly come of a D developing an affection for humans. And especially not an affection for one human in particular...

D hastily picked up the phone again, this time to call his contact at the MPD, hoping that taking concrete action would dispel unwelcome thoughts.

However, the police could not tell him much more than Jill had. They had confirmed Leon's arrival at Narita, and also confirmed that he'd been seen in Yokohama's Chinatown, but nothing beyond that. Nor had any blond foreign men turned up in the local hospitals, morgues, or jails. The police had checked Leon's cell phone records, but no calls had been made from his phone since his last call to Jill, and they were unable to use it to track his location because it was currently turned off--and had been for the last two weeks.

D also spoke to his less savory contacts, but none of the various gangs that ruled Japan's underworld reported having any conflicts with a man matching Leon's description.

And now D began to worry that Leon really had run into some kind of supernatural trouble, the kind that couldn't be solved with a gun--which Leon didn't have with him, anyway.

"Curse that idiot detective!" D fumed. "Now I'm going to have to look for him myself."

***

"Please, have some tea, Detective," D said, pouring a cup for him.

Leon repressed a sigh of impatience. His first impulse was to say to hell with the tea, and jump straight into the long-delayed confrontation with D. But that might send D running away again, and Leon would rather not have to chase after him a second time. And more importantly...now that he'd finally found D, what the hell was he supposed to say? Sure, he intended to chew D out for running away, but once he'd done that, what then? If he was going to be honest with himself, he hadn't chased D halfway across the world just to give him a scolding. But being honest with himself meant acknowledging feelings that he wasn't entirely comfortable with, and even if he managed to get past the "we're both guys" thing, D still had to get past the "you're human" thing, which he didn't seem to be dealing too well with, or he wouldn't have run away in the first place.

So maybe it was a bit cowardly, but Leon was willing to postpone the inevitable a bit longer and drink some tea. He took the cup and sipped from it, and for just a moment, it tasted like plain, cool water. But as he took another sip, he could smell the familiar aroma of D's favorite tea, and it was hot and flavorful, as it should be. He drank more deeply, savoring the taste. He'd never admit it to D, but he had grown fond of the tea after drinking so much of it at the pet shop, despite his complaints about preferring coffee or beer.

As the tea warmed his belly, that suddenly reminded him of how long it had been since his last meal. He'd skipped breakfast in his haste to start searching for D, and although he and Yuki had snacked on rice balls at one of the train stations for lunch, that had been hours ago, and his stomach rumbled at the thought.

Leon smiled sheepishly, and D laughed gently. "I was going to offer you sweets, but I think you require a more substantial meal, my dear Detective. Will you stay for dinner?"

"Sure, thanks," Leon replied, grateful not just for the offer of food, but that the confrontation with D could be put off a while longer. D retreated to the back rooms for a few minutes, then returned with a tray filled with steaming plates of delicious-smelling Chinese food, just like they used to eat in L.A.

***

_Humans,_ Yuki thought to herself contemptuously, feigning an indulgent smile as she watched the detective gorge himself on the feast--or at least, what he thought was a feast, conjured up with a bit of kitsune magic. _They are so gullible and so easy to fool._

***

D began making arrangements to travel to Yokohama. Public transportation was out of the question, of course, and he did not drive or own a car, but one of his wealthy clients was more than happy to lend him a car and chauffeur, so that was not a problem. What _was_ a problem was that many of the pets began clamoring to go along with him--it seemed that Leon was more popular with them than he had realized.

"I cannot bring all of you with me," D said, trying to sound stern in the face of their pleading.

"I can appear human even to normal people," Ten-chan said, assuming his usual guise of a teenage boy with long, braided hair. "But as for the rest of you...Yokohama isn't the Count's territory, and it would attract too much attention if he had a menagerie following him."

"Please," Pon-chan begged. "Please let me come with you! I'm the one who found out that Leon is here in Japan, after all!"

"I'm not sure that is something you should be rewarded for," D scolded, but when she stared up at him with wide, tearful eyes, he sighed and gave in. "Very well, you may come, but you will have to wait in the car."

"Thank you, Count!"

"If the raccoon and fox are coming, I'm coming, too," Tetsu growled.

"My, I didn't know that you were so fond of the detective," Ten-chan said with a smile.

"I'm not!" Tetsu snapped defensively. "It's just that trouble follows that man wherever he goes, so I'm coming along to protect the Count, that's all!"

"Of course, that's all," Ten-chan replied skeptically.

"I am _not_ fond of that idiot!" Tetsu shouted.

"Hey, I was just agreeing with you," Ten-chan said innocently.

"Stop it, both of you," D ordered. "Behave yourselves, or none of you will be coming with me."

"Yes, Count," Ten-chan said meekly, although his eyes still glittered with mischief.

"Yes, Count," Tetsu growled sullenly, and D sighed again. Perhaps Tetsu-chan was right--the detective was causing no end of trouble, and he wasn't even physically present. How much more trouble would result when they finally found him?

***

After Leon finished his dinner, there was a long, awkward silence until he cleared his throat and said reluctantly, "Listen, D, we really gotta talk..."

"Must we talk now, Detective?" Yuki-disguised-as-D asked, smiling at him coyly. "You had a long flight yesterday, and it's getting late. Surely you must be tired. Get some rest, and we can talk things over tomorrow morning."

Leon grabbed her wrist as she started to rise to her feet. "How do I know you won't be gone when I wake up tomorrow morning?" he demanded, his eyes wild with anger and fear and desire.

When even supernatural beings were enthralled by Count D, it was no surprise that a mere human had become obsessed with him, Yuki thought to herself sourly. "I promise, Detective...Leon, I shall not run away this time," she said, forcing herself to speak in a soothing voice. "I swear it, upon my honor."

"Can I really trust you, D?" Leon asked--no, demanded almost desperately, still hanging on to Yuki's wrist. "Your people hate humans. Would it really harm your honor if you broke a promise to one?"

"I do not hate you, Leon," Yuki said quietly, telling the detective what she thought he wanted to hear. It might even be true that Count D cared about this human, since gossip had it that he'd become rather obsessed with a certain detective in Los Angeles. And if he had hated or feared Leon, he could simply have had one of his pets kill the detective instead of fleeing from him. It was quite possible that the Count was running away from his own conflicted feelings--and whether or not that was true, it was a plausible enough theory that Yuki could use it for her own purposes.

"I ran away not because I hated you, but because I could _not_ bring myself to hate you," Yuki said, casting her eyes down as if she were ashamed. "Because I cared for you more than I should, as a member of the D family," she whispered, reaching out to lay her free hand on top of Leon's. She felt Leon freeze for a moment, and his grip on her wrist loosened. Glancing up obliquely through her lashes without raising her head, she saw that Leon's expression had softened.

"I get it," he said, gruffly but not unkindly. "I know you must have felt...conflicted." He smiled wryly. "Same as I did, befriending a murder suspect."

"I did not murder anyone," Yuki said, and Leon laughed, as if it was the response he had expected to hear.

"Of course not," he chuckled. "You abided strictly by the terms of your contracts, and it isn't your fault if your customers broke the rules."

"I am so glad that we understand each other, my dear detective," Yuki said lightly.

"You really promise that you won't run?" Leon asked, his expression turning more serious.

"I promise," Yuki said solemnly, meeting his gaze this time. "I shall not run away anymore, Leon."

He gazed at her with an intense scrutiny, and Yuki felt a sudden flicker of nervousness as she wondered if her illusion would hold--which was ridiculous, since no normal human could see through kitsune magic. Her confidence returned when Leon nodded, seeming satisfied with what he saw.

"Okay, he agreed. "I'll trust you, D." He yawned and stretched. "I admit, I could use a bit of shut-eye if you have a guest room I can use. Even the couch would be fine at this point."

"I've already had a room prepared for you," Yuki lied, leading him to a back room in the old shrine. Her kitsune illusions made it appear to him as an opulently furnished bedroom, and those illusions would extend to the senses, making the bare tatami floor feel like a bed with a soft, comfortable mattress.

"You know, it's strange," Leon said, glancing back over his shoulder into the "hallway" Yuki had seemingly led him down, though in reality they had merely stepped into the next room. "I haven't seen any of the pets...not that I really miss the rabid goat trying to take a bite out of my ass, but I kind of miss little Pon-chan."

 _Maybe the human isn't so gullible, after all,_ Yuki realized. Thinking quickly, she managed to come up with an excuse.

"They've trying to give us some privacy, I think," she said, feigning a blush.

"Oh, I see," Leon said, blushing as well, though much more sincerely. He had bought the excuse, possibly because his thoughts were dulled with fatigue, but Yuki was going to have to be more careful from now on if she wanted to keep up the deception.

"I'll leave you to your rest, then," Yuki said, but Leon stopped her as she turned to leave.

"I almost forgot," he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that unfolded into a much-creased drawing--more of a childish scribble, really--of Leon, D, a little boy, and a couple of D's pets. The little raccoon girl and the Tou-Tetsu, if she wasn't mistaken.

"Here," Leon said, handing it to Yuki as if it was supposed to mean something to her--or rather, to Count D. "It was in the suitcase that you dropped when you were running from Agent Howell." He smiled with a tenderness that suddenly made Yuki's heart ache, not out of desire for Leon, but because the one that she loved had never smiled at her that way. "That was what made me think that maybe you didn't hate all humans, if it was precious enough for you to hang onto when you ran. Besides, Chris would want you to have it."

The detective had a little brother, Yuki recalled. That must be the "Chris" that Leon was talking about, who must therefore have made this drawing. "Thank you for returning it," Yuki said, accepting the drawing. "It is indeed precious to me."

Leon seemed satisfied with her answer, and Yuki left the room, frowning as soon as she was safely out of his sight. Her knowledge of the pet shop came mostly from secondhand gossip and letters, and carrying on this charade was becoming more complicated than she had thought it would be. But still, Leon was only a human, so keeping him enspelled should not be much of a problem.

Then Yuki frowned again as she looked down at the drawing in her hand. Leon and his brother should not have been able to see the Count's pets in their human forms, but Chris had clearly drawn the raccoon as a little human girl, though the Tou-Tetsu looked more monstrous.

Yuki closed her hand into a fist, crumpling the sheet of paper. _Well, perhaps one of their ancestors had a touch of magic,_ she thought, shrugging off her concerns. A human with watered-down magic was still no match for a kitsune.

However, Yuki discovered the next morning that this particular human was more stubborn and resilient than she had thought. Leon woke up the next morning looking a little worse for wear, which wasn't surprising given that he had been sleeping on the floor, although her magic had disguised it as a bed.

"My back hurts," he complained, yawning. "Strange, even though the bed was so comfortable. I guess maybe it's softer than I'm used to?"

"I'm sorry that you didn't sleep well, Detective," Yuki said sweetly. "But hopefully a nice hot breakfast will make you feel better."

"Thanks, D," Leon said. "Let me just call and check in with Jill. And Chris will be excited to hear that I've found you, too." Yuki silently cursed herself for not having taken away Leon's cell phone while he was sleeping, but she needn't have worried. "Damn, I'm not getting a signal. I guess we really are out in the countryside, huh? Unless your shop is giving off some weird vibes that interfere with cell phone service." He laughed nervously, and Yuki smiled.

"There are no 'vibes' here, Detective. I've never noticed the lack of service before, but I don't have a cell phone."

"Can I use your land line, then?" Leon asked. "Jill gets worried if I don't check in every so often. Honestly, I'm a grown man--you'd think she was my mother, the way she worries about me!"

There was no phone in the abandoned shrine, but Yuki said in a pleasant voice, "Of course, Detective, but why don't you have breakfast first?"

"Sure, I'm starving!" Leon readily agreed.

She presented him with what she thought an American would expect: coffee, eggs, and toast (actually water and some wild nuts and berries disguised by her magic). But instead of looking pleased, Leon stared at the plate with a puzzled frown.

"Is the food not to your liking, Detective?" Yuki asked.

"It looks great," Leon replied. "But I thought were a vegetarian or vegan or whatever you call it when you don't eat animal products. I remember you fed Chris eggs for breakfast sometimes, but you said that was only because he was a growing boy. Otherwise I thought you considered it murdering baby birds or something."

Damn, she had forgotten about the Count being a strict vegetarian! Thinking quickly, Yuki said, "The villagers gave me those eggs as a gift, not knowing my dietary restrictions. It would have been rude to reject the gift, so you may as well eat the eggs and not let them go to waste."

Leon hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and said, "I won't question my good luck further, then. And the food sure smells great!" He ate his meal with gusto and Yuki smiled in a serene D-like fashion, but inwardly she was worrying because Leon was too clear-headed and questioning when he still should have been befuddled by her magic. She might need to invoke stronger spells to keep him under her control...

***

D had obtained a list of witnesses from the police, and went from shop to shop in Yokohama, interviewing all the shopkeepers who had spoken to Leon. Some of the older ones knew of D by reputation, and treated him with great respect.

"I had no idea that American really knew you," marveled an elderly woman who owned a small candy shop. "It is such a great honor to meet you, Count D," she added, bowing deeply.

"Thank you," D said politely, trying not to show his impatience. "Do you happen to know where he went after he left your shop?"

"As I told the police earlier, I don't," the woman replied regretfully. "But please, take some of these candies with you."

She pressed a bag of sweets upon him as a gift, something that normally would have pleased D, but he was too distressed to take any pleasure in the candy. "Really, that detective is nothing but trouble," D sighed as he got back into the car.

"I told you so," Tetsu muttered, but fell silent when D glared at him.

Some of the younger shopkeepers had never heard of D, and were considerably less respectful than the candy shop owner.

"Sorry, Miss," the manager of a ramen shop said with a shrug. "Like I told the cops, I don't know what happened to that guy after he left." Not seeming to notice that D was gritting his teeth with irritation, the man slipped his arm around D's shoulders as he escorted D out of the shop. "Forget about that American--he's not man enough for you, Missy, but I know how to show a lady a good time."

Ten-chan, in his human guise, snickered as D gave the man a cold look and said, "If I see any 'ladies,' I shall let them know."

"Aw, don't play hard to get, sweetheart," the man cajoled, then yelped as D forcibly removed his arm, twisting it painfully in the process. "What the hell, lady!"

"He's no lady," Ten-chan said cheerfully. "His title is _Count_ D, not Countess D, in case you hadn't noticed."

The man recoiled in horror. "Hey, I'm not into that kind of gay stuff," he protested.

Tetsu leaned out the car window and growled, "Want me to take care of him, Count? I could use a little snack, if you know what I mean."

D was sorely tempted, but allowing Tetsu to devour a human in broad daylight would cause a big commotion, and more importantly to D at this point, delay their investigation. "He is not worth your time," D said, turning to give the ramen shop manager a contemptuous look as he headed to the car. "I never thought I would say such a thing, but he is even more rude and uncouth than the detective!"

"Hey, I'm not the one who goes around dressing like a woman!" the manager shouted after them.

"Are you sure you don't want me to eat him?" Tetsu asked as D got in the car.

"He was really rude," Pon-chan chimed in, although she didn't often agree with Tetsu.

"Perhaps later," D said. "Right now we have to concentrate on finding the detective."

He talked to several more witnesses, but polite or rude, none of them had any useful information. Finally, they came to the last name on the list, the owner of a Chinese restaurant. He remembered Leon, but the restaurant had been busy at the time, and he hadn't noticed where Leon had gone after he left.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't more helpful," the restaurant owner said, and as an apology, gave D a bag of meat-filled buns.

"Thank you, but I don't eat meat," D said.

"I do!" Ten-chan said eagerly, and the owner smiled.

"Actually, we have a vegetarian version, so I'll give you a few of those, and your young friend can have the meat buns."

D thanked him and left the restaurant. The buns did smell delicious, but they were still no closer to finding Leon.

"That was the last witness on the list that the police gave me," D said, sighing heavily. "Now what do we do?"

"Ironically, we need a detective to find a detective," Ten-chan said with a rueful smile.

"If you're looking for that loud blond American guy, I might be able to help you," said a raspy voice from the alley behind the restaurant. D and Ten-chan cautiously ventured into the alley, and saw what appeared to be a young man leaning against the wall in a casual pose. He had shaggy, unkempt gray hair that contrasted with his youthful features, and was clad in jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket that were varying shades of gray. He had a narrow face with a rather long and pointed nose, and black eyes that gazed at them with a look of cunning and calculation.

A human couple passing by happened to glance into the alley, and the woman shuddered and exclaimed in disgust, "Ugh, a rat!" The man put his arm around her protectively, and they hurried past the alley.

"Ugh, a human!" the rat said mockingly, spitting on the ground as the couple walked by.

D wrinkled his nose slightly in distaste, but ignored the exchange and asked, "You have seen Detective Orcot?"

"I might have," the rat replied. "But it's hard to think straight when you're faint with hunger." He eyed the bag in D's hand, and D took the hint and handed him a meat bun. The rat devoured it in a few bites and licked the crumbs from his fingers.

"Has your memory improved?" D asked.

The rat rubbed his chin and made a show of thinking things over. "Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall seeing a blond guy walk out of that restaurant."

"Did you happen to see where he went next?" D asked, his voice sharpening slightly. Normally he would have made more of an effort to charm the rat, but his patience had worn thin after the day's fruitless search.

"You know, my memory's still a little fuzzy," the rat said, feigning a puzzled look and scratching his head.

D handed over the entire bag of buns, and Tetsu, who had been watching from the car, jumped out of the open window and came over to join them, followed by Pon-chan. "Hey, Count, I bet I can make this guy talk," he growled, baring his fangs.

The rat tensed, obviously poised to run, but D did not want him running off--or being torn to pieces by Tetsu--before he'd told them what he knew about Leon. So he said coolly, "I am sure that will not be necessary, Tetsu-chan."

"At least, not yet," Ten-chan added, smiling sweetly although his lips pulled back to reveal canine teeth that were slightly more pointed than a human's should be.

The rat smiled and threw up his hands in a placating gesture--although his right hand held firmly onto the bag of buns. "There's no need for violence, guys. I'm happy to help out."

"Then start talking!" Tetsu growled.

"Please," D added, to be polite.

The rat made a point of eating another bun just to prove that he wasn't intimidated, but he didn't push Tetsu's patience further than that. 

"Okay," he said as Tetsu started growling again. "I was checking out the dumpster behind the restaurant, looking for a little snack, when I heard the blond guy asking about Count D. I've never met you before, obviously, but I've heard enough stories about the famous Count D to pique my curiosity."

"Pretty good vocabulary for a rat," Tetsu sneered.

"Some of us like to use words with more than one syllable," the rat retorted, and Tetsu snarled at him.

"Pretty brave for a rat, too," Ten-chan said with amusement and a touch of genuine respect.

"Maybe not too smart, though," Pon-chan muttered.

"Calm down, Tetsu-chan," D said, placing a restraining hand on Tetsu's shoulder. To the rat, he said, "Please continue."

"So Blondie left the restaurant looking pretty down in the dumps," the rat continued, smirking at Tetsu. "Then this pretty girl in a kimono comes up to him and says that she knows where to find Count D."

" _What?_ " D exclaimed.

The rat paused to take a bite out of a third bun before answering. "She said that the Count was out in the countryside looking for a kitsune, and that her family had a shrine there, so she could take Blondie to him. And since you're here looking for Blondie, I'm guessing her story wasn't true."

"No," D replied, still feeling stunned. "I'm not looking for a kitsune, and no one has brought Detective Orcot to see me."

"So this chick kidnapped him?" Tetsu wondered out loud. "But that doesn't make sense--he doesn't even know anyone in Japan. Other than us, that is."

"Then maybe someone is using Leon to get to the Count?" Pon-chan asked anxiously.

Ten-chan frowned and said, "But then why haven't they contacted the Count to ask for a ransom, or just to taunt him that they've taken his boyfriend?"

"He is _not_ my boyfriend!" D protested indignantly.

"Yeah, but the kidnapper might think he is," Ten-chan said, waving off D's objections. "At the very least, she knows--or thinks she knows--that he's someone important to you. So it's someone who knew us in L.A., or at least knows a lot about the time we spent in L.A."

"Could you tell us more about this young woman?" D asked the rat, growing annoyed with Leon. A seasoned detective ought to know better than to walk into a trap, but no doubt he had let down his defenses for an attractive young female. "Did she happen to mention her name?"

"She told your detective that her name was Yuki, which might or might not be true," the rat replied with a shrug, stuffing the rest of the bun into his mouth. "She never said her family name, at least not that I heard. And she was young and pretty, at least as far as humans regard such things," he continued with his mouth full. 

"That isn't much to go on," Ten-chan said, frowning. "She said something about going to the countryside? I don't suppose she happened to say anything more specific about where they were going?"

"Nope," the rat replied, swallowing the last of the bun. "But they seemed to be heading to the train station when they left."

"Not much help are you, rat boy?" Tetsu sneered.

"More help than you've been to your master, goat boy," the rat shot back.

Tetsu snarled, but D placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "I appreciate the help you've given us," he said politely to the rat. "Is there anything else you can tell us about this Yuki, anything at all that could help us find her?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I did notice something a little unusual about her," the rat said casually. He held up the half-empty bag of buns and added, "My memory might be jogged by a bit more sustenance?" 

"Are you a rat or a pig?" Tetsu asked disgustedly, but D just sighed.

"Ten-chan, will you go buy some more buns for our friend?" he asked, handing the kitsune some money.

"Make them meat buns!" the rat called after him cheerfully. "The veggie ones aren't bad, but the meat buns are much tastier!"

Tetsu growled and tapped his foot impatiently until Ten-chan returned a few minutes later with another bag of buns. "Here you go," Ten-chan said to the rat in a very carefully level and polite voice; only a slight narrowing of his eyes gave away his own repressed impatience. "Now will you please tell us what you noticed about the woman who lured our friend away?"

Either the rat was satisfied with his reward or he realized that he shouldn't push his luck too far. "Of course," he replied pleasantly. "Your friend didn't notice, but to me, that girl smelled of fox."

" _Fox? _" Ten-chan exclaimed. "You mean she was a kitsune? Like me?"__

__"Yes, like you," the rat agreed. "She had fox-red hair, and if you looked really closely at her, you could see a shadowy hint of pointy ears, and fox tails peeking out from under her kimono. You'd have to know what you were looking for, though, and most humans take things at face value. Though you would think that a human familiar with the famous Count D might suspect that things aren't always what they seem."_ _

__"You said her name was Yuki?" Ten-chan demanded. "How many tails did she have?"_ _

__Ten-chan's eyes had turned their true golden hue and were glowing with intensity, and he had also allowed his ears and nine tails to manifest. The rat regarded him with trepidation and cautiously began backing away._ _

__"Hey, I'm just a humble rat trying to scrounge a meal," he said nervously. "I was watching from a distance, and I wasn't really taking a count. Maybe four or five? But definitely not as many tails as you, sir!" He shot a pleading look at D and said, "I don't know anything else, I swear!"_ _

__D judged that the rat was frightened enough to be telling the truth, and said, "Thank you for your help. You may go now." The rat didn't stick around to be told twice, and dashed off--though not in such haste that he forgot to take the buns with him._ _

__"Why's he more scared of you than he is of me?" Tetsu muttered to Ten-chan disgruntledly._ _

__"We are in Japan, and he is more likely to be familiar with legends of nine-tailed kitsune than with those of a Chinese creature like a Tou-Tetsu," D replied, though his attention was focused on Ten-chan. "More to the point, what I would really like to know is whether or not you are familiar with the female kitsune that the rat described, Ten-chan."_ _

__Ten-chan calmed down and his appearance returned to normal. "Er...well..." he temporized evasively. "'Yuki' is a common name, and we don't even know if it was her real name or just an alias."_ _

__"But you know a kitsune named 'Yuki,' don't you?" D asked sternly, and Ten-chan sighed. Although he was still in human form, he gave off the impression of a canine laying back its ears sheepishly._ _

__"Yes," Ten-chan replied reluctantly. "She's kind of...sort of...my fiancée."_ _

____

***

Keeping Leon captive was starting to become more trouble than it was worth. Yuki had cast her strongest spells to keep him befuddled, but he kept unconsciously fighting them off--perhaps it was his instincts as a detective that made him question his surroundings.

"I should call Jill," he said, for about the twentieth time since Yuki had brought him to the abandoned shrine.

"You already did," Yuki lied, trying to keep her voice patient. "The morning after you found me, remember?"

"I did?" Leon asked, frowning as he tried to recall something he hadn't done.

"Yes, Detective Jill told you that you might as well relax and enjoy some vacation time since you were already here in Japan."

"That sounds like Jill," Leon said uncertainly, his mind still clouded enough by magic to accept Yuki's word, at least for now. "But maybe I should give Chris a call?"

Trying not to sigh in exasperation, Yuki said, "You already did, but you can call him again after tea time." She ended up dosing his tea with some herbs that acted as a sleeping potion in order to stop his questions temporarily.

It wasn't just his attempts to call friends and family back home that she had to stave off. When he woke up, Leon commented again on the lack of pets in the shop, so Yuki created some illusional animals, but she had never visited the shop and had met the Count only once, when he had come to take her beloved Ten-chan away. The raccoon girl had accompanied him then, but Yuki hadn't met any of the other pets, although Ten-chan had described them to her in his increasingly infrequent letters.

So the only "pet" that she could accurately recreate was Ten-chan, and Leon noticed the lack of familiar faces. "Not that I miss Tetsu-chan, that vicious little bugger," he said almost nostalgically. "Seems kind of odd that he isn't here trying to bite me as usual, though."

"I sent him off on an errand," Yuki lied. "He won't be back for at least a few more days." However, to lull Leon's suspicions, she conjured up an image of Pon-chan, relying on her memory as best she could. Besides, one raccoon looked pretty much like another, right?

Except that Leon frowned as he petted the illusory raccoon, saying, "Something about Pon-chan seems a little different."

"It's been awhile since you last saw her," Yuki replied, fighting to keep a pleasant smile on her face. "Here, have another cup of tea, Detective."

Magic was no longer enough, and she had to resort to dosing him with narcotic herbs to keep him pliable or outright unconscious with increasing frequency. She stared down at Leon, who now lay on the floor in a drug-induced dream, twitching and muttering fretfully. She hadn't really thought things through--she couldn't keep the detective imprisoned forever, and it wasn't a very satisfying revenge if the Count didn't know that she had taken his boyfriend captive. But on the other hand, Ten-chan would be furious if he discovered what she had done. Her lower lip quivered at the thought of facing his anger, or worse, his disappointment.

But really, this was all his fault! If he hadn't run away and left her behind, this never would have happened.

***

_"Fiancée?!"_ D, Tetsu, and Pon-chan chorused in shock.

"Well, it was something our parents decided when we were just little kids, practically babies," Ten-chan explained. "It wasn't like I proposed or anything."

"An arranged marriage?" Pon-chan asked.

"Yeah, a sort of alliance between our families," Ten-chan replied. "They had us go through a betrothal ceremony when we were too young to understand what was going on."

"Sounds like you're a reluctant bridegroom," Tetsu said dryly. "Did you run off and leave the bride at the altar?"

"I didn't run off!" Ten-chan said defensively. "Er...well, not exactly. I mean, the marriage wasn't supposed to take place until we both reached adulthood, and then the Count came looking for someone to help out at the shop, and my clan owed him a favor, so I volunteered. I wanted to see the world and have some fun before I got tied down in a marriage that I didn't even ask for!"

"Do you dislike this Yuki, then?" Pon-chan asked. "I bet she was hurt when you ran off. Unless she doesn't like you, either?"

"I don't dislike her," Ten-chan said guiltily. "I'm fond of her, but more like a little sister than a girlfriend. And Yuki, she's a good girl, so she never questioned the marriage and seemed to be looking forward to it. I didn't mean to hurt her...I just wasn't ready to settle down. I don't think she's really in love with me, either--it's more of a childish crush."

"That may be how you see it, but perhaps the young lady sees things differently," D said. "Though I am not sure why her affection for you would cause her to kidnap the Detective."

"Um...well...she was pretty upset when I left home to go work at the pet shop," Ten-chan admitted, and his ears seemed to droop lower. "So I think maybe she kind of feels like you took me away from her."

"Then taking the Detective is a form of revenge," the Count said, growing alarmed. "I took you from her, so she will take someone that I care about." He blushed as he realized what he had said. "Or at least, someone that she thinks I care about."

Ten-chan looked up and met his eyes. "If you didn't care about him, would you really have spent all this time running away from him?"

"We can discuss that later!" D snapped, and the kitsune dropped his gaze. "Our first priority is to find Leon...I mean, the Detective. Where can we find your fiancée?"

"I'm not sure," Ten-chan replied. "Last I heard, she was living at home with her parents, but I'm sure they would have noticed if she brought a human home with her. We kitsune do our fair share of mischief, but we're not allowed to go around kidnapping people off the street, at least not these days."

"Your bride must be hiding him somewhere," D pointed out.

Ten-chan winced at the word "bride," and said, "Please don't call her that."

"That is an accurate description, is it not?" D retorted testily. "This has been a very long day, and I would like to find the Detective before any harm comes to him." He added hastily, "Because Miss Jill and young Christopher would be upset if anything happened to him." Ten-chan raised an eyebrow but said nothing, and D continued, "You said that you and Yuki were like siblings. Surely you must have some idea of where she might be hiding."

"I don't...no, wait," Ten-chan said, frowning thoughtfully. "The rat said she mentioned a shrine. It might just be a story she made up to lure Leon, but...there is an old shrine of Inari where we used to play when we were children."

"It's not like we have any better leads," Tetsu said, and the animals all turned and looked expectantly at D.

"Then let us go and investigate," D said, wondering if Leon felt this excited and anxious when he was tracking down a lead.

***

Heavily drugged and bespelled, Leon had become more compliant, though he had an annoying habit of rambling on about adventures he and D had experienced back in L.A.

"Remember the time that terrorist with the pet jaguar kidnapped us and took us to South America, D? Remember how I thought you were going to let him sacrifice me to the Incan gods?"

Yuki had no idea what he was talking about; maybe she had given him too strong a dose of the narcotic herbs. Even with Count D's involvement, the story sounded too wild to be true, but she said placatingly, "Yes, I remember, but I would never have let any harm come to you, my dear Detective."

"And remember the time we had to track down that three-headed dog? I wasn't sure I was going to survive that experience, either!"

"Yes, Detective, it was indeed an adventure," Yuki replied, only halfway paying attention to his words.

But then Leon's drug-glazed eyes suddenly became more alert, and he said triumphantly, "Aha! That was a trick question--there was no three-headed dog! I got that from the Harry Potter movie." He leaned forward and peered more closely at Yuki. "You aren't D, so who the hell are you, and where is the real D?"

***

They made discreet inquiries at the village that the shrine had once served, with D posing as a foreign scholar who was doing research on Shintoism.

"I hear that there is an old shrine of Inari nearby," D said to the elderly owner of a traditional sweets shop, and incidentally, purchased some mochi and dango from her. It was long past tea time, and besides, it would make the woman more inclined to talk to them, D reasoned.

"Yes, but it's been abandoned for years," the shopkeeper said, wrapping up his purchase. She lowered her voice and leaned forward, saying in a conspiratorial tone, "People have been saying recently that the place is haunted."

"Really?" D whispered in an equally hushed voice, and with a look of interest and attentiveness that prompted the shopkeeper to gossip further.

"People have heard voices and strange sounds coming from the shrine, and seen lights in there at night, even though no one's lived there since the old priest died. It might be the priest's ghost or Inari's kitsune messengers, or maybe both, sorrowed and angry that the shrine has fallen into disrepair." The woman shrugged. "Or that's what the gossips have been saying, anyway. It might just be teenagers using an abandoned building as a place to party."

"Thank you for the warning," D said politely. "I shall be careful when I visit the shrine."

There was no road leading to the shrine, so D and his small entourage set out on foot, as Ten-chan led them up the winding trail. When they passed by the stone fox statues, Ten-chan paused to pat them affectionately.

"Did they used to worship kitsune at this temple?" Pon-chan asked.

"Foxes are the messengers of the god Inari," Ten-chan explained, "which is why you often see statues of foxes at shrines of Inari. Yuki-chan and I used to play here when we were little kits, when the old priest was still alive." He smiled, nostalgically and a bit sadly. "He would often leave treats out for us. I'm not sure, but I think he suspected that we weren't ordinary foxes. Hardly anyone visited the shrine even then--anyone human, that is. There was no one to take over when the priest died, and the place has been empty ever since."

Then they heard voices coming from the shrine--and one of them was the very familiar sound of a man shouting angrily in English.

"Leon!" D cried, running towards the shrine with the others close on his heels. He shoved open the sliding door with such force that it was knocked askew off its track. Inside, he saw Leon, looking gaunt and unshaven and none too clean, lurching unsteadily towards a young woman in a kimono.

"Yuki-chan!" Ten-chan exclaimed.

"Ten-chan!" Yuki shouted in dismay.

"Huh?" Leon said as he turned to stare at them in confusion. "Another fake D?"

He stumbled and lost his balance, and D managed to catch him just before he fell. D staggered under the Detective's weight, but Leon felt lighter than he should have.

"Have you been starving him?" D demanded indignantly of Yuki, who looked around frantically, as if seeking an avenue of escape.

"Oh no, you don't," Tetsu snarled, grabbing hold of the kitsune girl, twisting her arms behind her back as she yelped in pain.

"You don't need to hurt her!" Ten-chan protested.

"It seems that she has not been so careful of Leon's well-being," D said coldly. "Why should we care about hers?" His mission as Count D was to protect and preserve animal life, especially supernatural animals, but right at this moment, he didn't care if Tetsu hurt or even killed Yuki, and Ten-chan flinched at the look in his eyes.

"Please, Count, I beg you to show mercy," Ten-chan pleaded. "I am sure this is just some childish prank that got out of hand."  

"A childish prank where she almost killed him?" D snapped.

"I'm the only one who gets to kill that stupid detective," Tetsu snarled, baring his fangs. His grip tightened on Yuki, and his fingernails, long and sharp as talons, pierced through the thick cloth of her kimono.

"I wasn't going to kill him!" Yuki screamed. "I only wanted to hurt the Count by taking away someone that he loved, because he took away my precious Ten-chan!"

"Yuki, I've told you many times, he didn't take me away," Ten-chan said.

"Leon is not...that is, I am not..." D blushed and fell silent, becoming tongue-tied when he tried to protest that he didn't love the Detective...perhaps because it wasn't true. Why else had he fled in panic when Leon had become close enough to him to view the pet shop and its residents in their true forms, even if it was only while he was in a dream state? And why else would he have come searching for Leon when he heard that the Detective might be in trouble? If he didn't care about Leon, he should have taken the opportunity to leave Japan before Leon could find him.

"Hey everybody...chill out," Leon said weakly, still leaning on D for support. "No one is going to kill anyone."

Tetsu stared at him incredulously, and D suspected his own expression looked much the same. "She kidnapped you, held you captive, and would maybe have starved you to death, but you're defending her?" Tetsu asked in disbelief.

"I'm a cop," Leon said in a firmer voice. "We don't kill people unless it's in self defense, and only when there's no other choice. I'm not too happy about what she did, but where I come from, we arrest people, not execute them without a trial. Of course, I'm not sure that it's possible to arrest a fox, if that's what she is, but I'm sure we can figure out something less extreme than the death penalty." 

Ten-chan gave the detective a look filled with gratitude. 

"Besides," Leon added, "it looks like she's younger than I thought...just a kid, really. So I think she's more of a juvenile delinquent than a hardened criminal."

While struggling with Tetsu, Yuki had dropped her disguise, in which she had appeared to be an adult human woman. She wore her semi-humanoid kitsune form now: pointed ears poking out through her red hair, and five tails trailing out from beneath the skirts of her kimono. This form was smaller and slighter than the human disguise, and she looked to be a few years younger than Ten-chan, about twelve or thirteen as humans judged such things. Since the kitsune were long-lived and aged more slowly than humans, she was probably older than that in years, but she was clearly an adolescent.

Her youth, along with Leon's words and his own confusion about his feelings for Leon, all combined to dampen D's anger enough that it was no longer murderous. "Very well, we shall hear out the young lady's tale and whatever excuses she may offer, but she _shall_ be punished for her actions."

"I got no gripe with that, as long as the punishment fits the crime," Leon said. "But can I sit down while we do this? I'm not sure how long I can keep standing, or how long you can keep holding me up."

Ten-chan hurried over and helped D lower Leon to the floor, since there didn't seem to be any chairs in the room. At a nod from D, Tetsu released Yuki and she knelt on the floor next to Ten-chan, across from Leon and D. Tetsu remained standing, leaning against the wall as he kept a close eye on Yuki, but she looked chastened and subdued, and showed no sign of "making a break for it," as the Detective would say.

Pon-chan climbed onto Leon's lap, gazing up at him anxiously, and he smiled and gently patted the top of her head, saying, "I'm fine, Pon-chan." As D was wondering whether he saw her human or raccoon form, Leon's stomach rumbled loudly and he grinned sheepishly.

"I'm starving," Leon declared. "Yuki fed me plenty of fancy feasts, but somehow they never filled me up."

D still had the sweets he had bought in the village, and gave them to Leon, who devoured them eagerly. "One cannot fill one's stomach on kitsune illusion," he said coldly, and Yuki wilted under his steely glare.

"I really wasn't trying to starve him," she mumbled, hunching her shoulders and casting her gaze down at the floor. "I only had a little human money on me, and that soon ran out. Traditionally, we kitsune would use our magic to temporarily turn leaves into money, but in a small town like this, people would notice if the cash register was full of leaves every time I shopped there."

"And humans these days don't believe in magic and kitsune, so we aren't supposed to do things that will bring our existence to their attention," Ten-chan added.

"I fed him whatever I could manage to hunt and forage," Yuki said. "Wild nuts and berries, and fish and small game. I also stole some vegetables from the village farms." Ten-chan gave her a stern look, and she said defensively, "Only a few! I doubt that they even noticed the loss."

"Small game?" Leon asked uneasily, and suddenly noticed a heap of small bones piled in one corner of the room. D recognized them as belonging to mice, frogs, and a rabbit or two.

Looking queasy and pressing a hand to his mouth, Leon muttered a muffled, "I don't think I wanna know."

"Dare we ask what you gave him to drink?" Tetsu asked.

"I said I don't wanna know!" Leon protested.

"Just plain water," Yuki replied. "There is a well behind the shrine that I was able to draw from."

"Just look at Leon," Pon-chan said accusingly. "He's practically skin and bones!"

"I said I wasn't trying to starve him," Yuki defended herself. "It's just that it was hard to gather enough food to feed a full-grown man."

"So tell me again why you tricked me into coming here and held me captive?" Leon said with the same glowering expression and intimidating voice that he had often used while interrogating D. It had never had much effect on D, but apparently it worked much better on teenage girls, because Yuki immediately burst into tears.

"I'm sorry!" she wailed. "I know it was stupid! I wanted to hurt Count D and I didn't stop to think, but then I couldn't figure out how to let you go without getting into more trouble..."

"Okay, so I don't quite understand," Leon said, frowning in concentration. "You're mad at D because he took Ten-chan from you?"

"I did not 'take' him," D started to argue, but Leon waved at him to be silent.

"Ten-chan and I have been engaged since we were children," Yuki sniffled. "Our parents arranged it, but I've loved him ever since I can remember, so I was fine with it. He treated me more like a little sister, but I knew we'd be married someday, so I was happy just to be with him. And I figured that when I grew up and wasn't a little girl anymore, he would love me the way that I love him." 

She stared at her fiancée with tearful, accusing eyes. 

"But he started spending less and less time with me, and then when Count D showed up wanting a kitsune for his shop, he abandoned me and ran off like he couldn't wait to get away from me!" Tears began to run down her face again. "Is it because I'm not good enough for you? Because I only have five tails and you have nine?"

"That's not it at all," Ten-chan protested. "You're very dear to me, Yuki-chan, and I don't care how many tails you have. But this marriage thing...doesn't it bother you that our parents decided on it without asking us what we wanted?"

"No," Yuki wept.

"Isn't it just that you never questioned it, because you were told all your life that you would be my bride?" Ten-chan persisted gently.

"No," Yuki insisted stubbornly. "Even if I could choose from all the kitsune men and boys in the country, I'd still pick you, because you're the handsomest and kindest. Except that you weren't very nice when you ran away with the Count."

In spite of the situation, Leon smiled in amusement. "You got cold feet, huh?" he said to Ten-chan. "In a way, I can't really blame you since it's tough to be tied down that young, but still, it's wrong to make a pretty girl cry."

"I didn't get cold feet!" Ten-chan said guiltily. "It's just...I wanted to see the world and have some adventures before I settled down."

"That's pretty much the definition of 'cold feet,' kid," Leon told him. "Not that I blame you for wanting some adventure. You two kids really are too young to be settling down just yet. But you should have sat down and talked things over with Yuki before you left--it sounds like you ran off with hardly a goodbye."

"Like he couldn't get away fast enough," Yuki sniffled.

"You're right," Ten-chan said to Leon with a sigh. 

To Yuki, he said, "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. It wasn't really you that I was trying to escape from, but having my life planned out by my family. And I admit that I was a bit of a coward, because I was afraid you'd cry if I told you I was leaving, and then I might not be able to go through with it." 

Yuki looked slightly cheered by that admission. "But really," Ten-chan continued earnestly, "I wasn't planning to abandon you. I intended to go back home eventually--"

"After you had your share of adventure?" Tetsu asked with a smirk.

Ten-chan shot him a quick glare, then said to Yuki, "And I did keep in touch with you after I left. I wrote you letters, telling you about everything that was happening at the shop."

"But you didn't tell me when you came back to Japan," Yuki said sulkily. "And then we started hearing rumors that Count D had set up shop here."

"So you were hunting for D, too!" Leon exclaimed, and Yuki nodded.

"Yes, but I found you first. And I knew from Ten-chan's letters how important you are to the Count."

"Oh, really?" D asked coldly, giving Ten-chan a pointed look.

"Sorry, Count, but...he is, you know," Ten-chan said, and Pon-chan nodded emphatically.

Tetsu scowled but said, "We all know it, so you might as well admit it."

Leon was gazing at him intently, and D found himself blushing. He cleared his throat and said, "Right now, we are supposed to be discussing what to do with Ten-chan's fiancée."

Leon looked at D a little longer, enough to make him squirm, before turning back to Yuki and saying, "You kidnapped me to get back at D, but it sounds like it was Ten-chan that you were really mad at."

"I guess so," Yuki said, hanging her head. "I am sorry, Leon-san. I wronged you, and yet you protected me from the Count's anger." She bowed low in a formal apology, pressing her hands and forehead down to the floor. "My most humble apologies."

Ten-chan bowed as well. "And I apologize also. This is partly my fault, for not talking things over honestly with Yuki-chan."

D glared at them a few moments longer, but now that Leon was safe, his anger had subsided--not entirely, but enough that he was no longer contemplating murder. He turned to Leon and said, "You were the one that she harmed, Detective. I believe it is fitting for you to decide her punishment."

"Hmm," Leon said, his voice rumbling in an ominous tone as he scratched his chin thoughtfully. Still bowed down on the floor, Yuki and Ten-chan peeked up at him anxiously, though D sensed that Leon was putting on an act to further chasten the kitsune girl. Which was fine with D; it was the least that she deserved for what she had put Leon through.

"Kidnapping is a very serious offense," Leon said sternly. "Where I come from, they could send you to Juvie for that."

"Juvie?" Yuki whispered to Ten-chan.

"It's like a prison for kids," Ten-chan whispered back.

Yuki's eyes widened and her face turned pale. "I'm going to be locked up?"

"However," Leon said loudly, and the two kitsune fell silent. "Given the defendant's youth, and since it's her first offense...at least, I'm assuming it's her first offense?"

Ten-chan nodded frantically. "She's never been in any trouble before!" 

D raised an eyebrow skeptically, knowing the mischievous nature of the kitsune. 

"Well, no more so than any kitsune child," Ten-chan amended. "Nothing more than harmless, childish pranks. She is a dutiful and obedient child who has always obeyed her elders." He smiled ruefully. "Much more than I ever did."

"Well, in that case, perhaps we can consider probation," Leon said, his stern expression softening slightly. "And community service." Before Yuki could ask, he explained, "That means that you do good deeds to help others in order to atone for your crime."

"Thank you, Leon-san!" Yuki exclaimed, bursting into tears of gratitude.

"Thank you, Leon," Ten-chan echoed with equal gratitude though more composure.

"What good deeds must I perform in atonement?" Yuki asked meekly.

"Hmm," Leon said again. After some thought, he came up with a plan, although they had to concoct a story that the villagers would believe.

They returned to town with Yuki in tow, explaining that she was a runaway and Leon was a private detective who had been sent to find her. The first was partially true, since she had left her home under false pretenses, claiming that she was staying with a cousin in Tokyo. She had been hiding in the shrine, which explained the noises that the villagers had heard.

"I knew it wasn't a ghost," the sweets shop owner said with satisfaction, while the people who had spread the ghost story looked embarrassed.

"But are you really a detective?" one of the villagers asked, regarding Leon's scruffy appearance with doubt.

"I sprained my ankle and couldn't walk back to town until it healed," Leon lied glibly, with D translating for him. "My cell phone wouldn't work, and Yuki-chan wouldn't go into town for help because she was afraid of getting into trouble. But she's not a bad kid--she did take care of me while my ankle healed, and then her friends found us."

"Yuki-chan is a family member," Ten-chan said, leaving it at that, since humans no longer arranged child-betrothals. "I apologize for all the trouble that she has caused you."

"There was no real harm done," the shopkeeper said, looking confused. "But are you folks detectives, too, not scholars like you said?"

"Maybe they were undercover!" another villager, a young man who had believed the ghost rumors, exclaimed excitedly.

"I am a scholar of sorts, specializing in folklore about supernatural creatures," D said smoothly, giving another half-truth. "We are not detectives, but we did come looking for Detective Orcot when he did not report back to his colleague as planned."

"Some detective," Tetsu scoffed, although the villagers heard only a derisive bleat, since they could only see and hear his animal form.

Leon flushed and glared at Tetsu, then admitted, "Yeah, I did kind of run into some trouble. But in the end, I found what I was looking for." He smiled at D almost tenderly, and then it was D's turn to blush. Tetsu rolled his eyes, giving them both a disgusted look.

The villagers would have been willing to let things go at that, but Leon insisted that Yuki work in the fields to repay the farmers for the vegetables she had stolen. Ten-chan insisted on working alongside her, saying that it was his responsibility as well. Meanwhile, Leon called home to let Jill and his family know that he was all right, and they booked rooms at an inn, where Leon could finally get cleaned up and eat a decent meal.

Leon still had some vacation time left, so they stayed a few days longer, cleaning and repairing the old shrine, and Leon personally scrubbed the fox statues clean. The villagers got into the spirit of things and pitched in to help.

"It looks like it did in the old days," the sweets shop owner said nostalgically. "It's a shame that there was no one to take over for the late priest."

"Perhaps," D said thoughtfully, "I might be able to find someone to take over the care of the shrine."

"That would be most welcome," the shopkeeper said.

"It would be nice to see people worshipping at the shrine again," Yuki said wistfully.

"I remember that little foxes used to come and play outside the shrine," the shopkeeper recalled with a smile. "The priest used to say that they were Inari's messengers. Maybe they'll come back if the shrine is active again." Ten-chan and Yuki exchanged small, secretive smiles.

After the villagers headed back to town, Yuki came up to Leon and said timidly, "Leon-san? I had forgotten about this, but I found it while we were cleaning. You said that it was something important to you and the Count."

She handed him a piece of paper that had been crumpled and creased before being unfolded and pressed flat again. Leon took it and silently handed it over to D.

"Oh," D whispered, his eyes filling with tears as he gazed upon Christopher's drawing, inexpertly done, but filled with love and affection. And finally, he admitted to himself that he cared for both the Orcot brothers, the older one in particular. "My kind are not supposed to love humans," he whispered, more to himself than to Leon.

"There's a whole lotta things we're not supposed to do that we do anyway," Leon said, bluntly but not unkindly. "I'm not supposed to get friendly with a mysterious Chinese shopkeeper who's a suspect in several murders, who sells man-eating pets. I'm not supposed to trust him enough to leave my kid brother with him. And I'm damn well not supposed to go running all over the world looking for him!" 

He scowled at D with such a familiar look of annoyance, that D couldn't help but smile fondly--he had even missed this grumpy side of Leon!

"And most of all, I'm not supposed to have these kinds of feelings for a guy," Leon said quietly, flushing and staring down at his feet. He scuffed the dirt on the ground nervously with a sneaker-clad foot. "But I do."

"Oh, just kiss him already!" Pon-chan said impatiently, and Leon and D both jumped, startled into remembering that they had an audience.

"And I'm not supposed to hear raccoons talking, or see them look like a little girl," Leon said with mock-sternness, rumpling Pon-chan's hair as she grinned up at him unrepentantly.

"You can see their true forms now," D said. He had suspected so, but hadn't been sure...or maybe he had been afraid to ask, because that would mean that his preconceptions about humans were wrong.

Leon nodded. "Ever since I was on that boat thing. I wasn't sure I'd still be able to if I wasn't dreaming, but it seems like I can." He aimed a kick at Tetsu that was obviously intended to miss, although the Tou-Tetsu growled at him anyway. "Though I think maybe I was better off when I couldn't understand what this foul-mouthed brat was saying."

"It's a hundred years too soon for you to be calling me a brat!" Tetsu retorted. "You have no idea how old I am, but then you're just a stupid human. I'd eat you, but you'd probably taste awful, considering all the tobacco and junk food that's gone into your body!"

"Oh yeah?" Leon shot back. "Then why do I have so many bite-scars on me if I taste so bad?"

D burst into laughter, causing Leon and Tetsu to break off their argument. "Ah, it's just like old times!"

"Then, will you come back with me, D?" Leon asked, holding out his hand.

There was a long silence, and the others seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation while D stared at Leon, unmoving. Finally, he reached out to take Leon's hand, and they let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Yes, I will," he said. "Although I will need to take care of some business affairs and arrange for a priest to take over the shrine here."

"And I need to take Yuki home and explain things to our parents," Ten-chan added.

"Nooooo!" Yuki wailed. "Please don't tell my parents!"

D and Leon exchanged vindictive grins. "I think that would be a most appropriate punishment," D purred.

"You gotta face the music sometime," Leon agreed cheerfully. "That's all part of growing up and learning to take responsibility for your actions."

"But they'll be so mad," Yuki groaned. "I'll be--"

"Grounded for life?" Leon suggested. "Or the kitsune equivalent?"

"Something like that," Ten-chan replied. "And we live much longer than humans."

Yuki's fox-ears dropped miserably, and Leon seemed to take pity on her. "She should be punished," he told Ten-chan. "But tell them not to ground her forever. You said that you wanted to see the world--well, maybe she should, too. Not unsupervised, of course, but maybe it would be good for her to see new places and meet new people." 

To Yuki he said, "You accepted without question what your parents told you, that you should marry Ten-chan. I'm not saying that you _shouldn't_ marry him, but I think you should take some time to experience life and decide what you want for yourself, rather than just doing what other people expect of you. No matter what happens, I'm sure the two of you will work things out." He smiled at both of them. "Ten-chan obviously cares a lot about you. He stood up to D and Tetsu for your sake."

"I'm not sure whether my feelings are romantic or not, but you are very precious to me," Ten-chan said to Yuki. She smiled shyly at him and slipped her hand in his, and his fingers closed around hers.

"Then that's enough for now," Yuki said. "And I will think about what you said, Leon-san. I am sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, but I'm glad that I met you."

"Me too, kid," Leon said, giving her an affectionate pat on the head. "Now you'd better go home and face the music."

Yuki sighed, with all the dread of a teenager about to face her angry parents, but she and Ten-chan turned into foxes and ran off into the woods.

"We'll head back to town," Pon-chan declared, then took Tetsu by the hand and dragged him off, somewhat unwillingly, leaving Leon and D alone.

"Well," Leon said awkwardly.

"Well," D said, equally at a loss for words. Finally, he said, "I had thought to leave you behind, with all your troublesome ways, but it seems that you will follow me wherever I go."

"That's right," Leon said firmly. "Because I'm a great detective."

"Who was deceived by an adolescent girl," D reminded him dryly.

"She used magic!" Leon defended himself. "But I saw through it in the end."

"You did," D conceded. "You are an incredibly stubborn man, but full of surprises."

"Just admit it, D," Leon said with a grin. "You're stuck with me."

"I suppose I am," D gave in with a long-suffering sigh. Leon moved a few steps forward, until he and D were face to face. 

"What are you doing?" D asked breathlessly.

"Following Pon-chan's advice," Leon replied, and bent his head down slowly towards D, giving him plenty of time to pull away if he wanted. But D remained in place and let Leon's mouth close over his in a slow and tender kiss.

***

A few weeks later in Los Angeles, Leon walked through the doors of the pet shop and exclaimed, "Whoa, the place looks just the same!"

"It is the same shop, in the same location," D pointed out serenely.

"Leon!" Pon-chan cried delightedly, running forward and flinging her arms around him. He returned the hug, but was taken aback when the other pets swarmed around him, chattering at him excitedly.

"Okay, some things are a little different," he admitted. "It's kind of weird seeing all of you like this."

"It's so cool that you can understand us now!" a spiky-haired penguin girl exclaimed.

"I don't see what's the big deal," Tetsu huffed, but the others ignored him.

"I brought some strawberry tarts from Madame C's," Leon announced, holding up a pastry box, and D beamed at him.

"How wonderful! It's just about tea time, so let's eat them now." He planted a quick kiss on Leon's mouth before hurrying off to get the tea, and the crowd of pets giggled, whistled, and cheered (except for Tetsu).

"Aw, shaddup," Leon told them, blushing, but couldn't help smiling. 

It was strange...when he had first met D, he'd been appalled at the idea that he might be attracted to a guy, and had done everything that he could to deny it, even to himself. But now, after all the crazy shit he'd seen--including mermaids and three-headed dragons and Q-chan turning into D's grandpa--falling in love with a guy didn't seem like such a big deal. He and D were keeping it on the down low for now, but most of the guys at the station thought he'd been dating D anyway, what with bringing him pastries and candy all the time, not to mention chasing after him when he'd fled L.A. As for Jill, she'd simply said, "Well, it's about time," and had wished them well.

They had just begun to eat the tarts when the door swung open. D began his customary welcoming speech, but stopped mid-sentence when he recognized their visitor.

"Yuki-chan!" Ten-chan exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you," Leon said sincerely. In spite of what she'd done, he had grown fond of the fox girl. "But I thought that you were still grounded."

"My parents agreed with you, Leon-san," Yuki said happily. "They said that I should see more of the world, and that it would be a good learning experience. And since they know that you and the Count will take care of me and keep me out of trouble, they've sent me here. Plus, I get to see Ten-chan!" Then she ran over and hugged Ten-chan, who was in too much shock to come up with a response at the moment.

"That wasn't quite what I had in mind," Leon said, shaking his head slightly. "But still...Ten-chan has to deal with her sooner or later, and maybe it's better for her to be here where we can keep an eye on her."

"We?" D asked.

"We," Leon said firmly, laying his hand over D's.

"Then Yuki-chan is welcome here," D said, smiling at him. "I was furious with her at the time, but...in a way, she brought us together, so perhaps I should be grateful to her."

"Yes, although I don't think we should tell her that," Leon laughed. "We shouldn't encourage her to get into any more mischief."

"I'm sure she'll be getting into enough as it is," D sighed. 

Ten-chan seemed to have recovered his powers of speech, and was arguing with Yuki. The other pets gathered around them, talking loudly--some just wanting to greet the newcomer, while others were angry that she held Leon captive and weren't ready to forgive her yet, even if Leon had.

D gave Leon an accusing look. "Trouble seems to follow you around wherever you go, my dear Detective."

"But wouldn't your life be awfully boring without me?" Leon asked, and D laughed, then wrapped his arms around Leon and kissed him, ignoring the chaos around them.

**Author's Note:**

> I was browsing Yuletide letters prior to assignments going out, and I loved your prompt of "I've read (and enjoyed!) many of the post-canon stories where Leon goes in search of D. What I'd really like is to turn this idea around and have D go in search of Leon for whatever reason." I've written "Leon goes in search of D" before, but it had never occurred to me to turn it the other way around and I was really intrigued by that idea, so I was thrilled to get this assignment! I had so much fun revisiting the world of PSOH again and playing with D and Leon and the rest, so I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> The story was partially inspired by the novel _The Fox Woman_ by Kij Johnson, in which a kitsune woman falls in love with and seduces a Japanese nobleman. Her magic creates the illusion of a luxurious mansion, but the couple are actually living in a fox-hole and dining on mice and insects. Obviously, that was a big influence on the scenes where Yuki is keeping Leon captive in the shrine.


End file.
